Mr. Speaker, Ontario Premier Mike Harris has said that hell will freeze over before we will see co-operation for a 15 per cent sales tax in Ontario and with good reason. His finance minister has said that harmonization would cost Ontario taxpayers up to $3 billion.
Page 15 of the red ink book states: "Governments have little room to find new revenues from the tax side. Indeed the long term objective of all governments must be to reduce the tax burden".
Will the finance minister now admit that his $3 billion harmonization proposal for Ontario based on the red ink book promise to eliminate the GST actually breaks another red book promise to harmonize and reduce the tax burden?